SnapPower Charger Lets You Install A USB Wall Outlet Without Messing With Wires

April 1, 2015

Putting a USB slot on your wall outlet is easy enough. Just pick up a new socket with a USB slot, turn off your main electrical panel, remove the existing outlet, and wire in your new one. Done. The SnapPower Charger, however, makes things even simpler, requiring you to simply screw in a new faceplate to add a USB slot onto any outlet.

Instead of needing to be integrated into your electrical wiring, the cover plate simply draws electricity from the screws on the side of a non-GFCI outlet (basically, any outlet with exposed screw terminals), allowing you to install a USB charging port by simply swapping plates. That means, instead of spending 10 minutes, you can get the job done in under 60 seconds, making it downright easy to put USB ports everywhere in the house.

Made by the same guys behind the SnapRays Guidelight, the SnapPower Charger uses the same “power prong” technology, a pair of conductors sticking out in the backside of the plate that you’ll need to push into the box to make contact with the outlet’s screws. For the most part, it looks like a regular wall outlet, save for the chunkier bottom, which allows it to provide the 1-ampere USB slot from the side. That’s right, they put the outlet on the side, ensuring even the bulkiest AC plugs won’t interfere with your ability to access the USB port.

A Kickstarter campaign is currently running to fund SnapPower Charger. Pledges to reserve a unit starts at $14.